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Anyone rode the Patrol ???

32K views 75 replies 36 participants last post by  ripdogg1 
#1 ·
Just wanted to know if anyone has had a chance to demo or better yet purchased the Patrol and have any feed back on how it rides??

I have a 2015 Reign that I might be putting up for sale to get a Patrol.
I have always liked Transition and rode a Covert once but because of them being a smaller company the bikes are kind of hard to get compared to the bigger bike companies. I like the way the new bikes look this year and have read very little on them on how they ride. If anyone has any feed back I would love to hear about it.

Thanks !!!
 
#3 ·
To sum it up in one word " dull " Don't get me wrong it's a good bike but I just like a poppy, snappier bike. I had a Trance 27.5 before it was a little more of an active bike. The Reign just kind of hammers through everything. For me and my riding style I like to the bike to be a little more playful. I know Transition is known for making those kind of bikes. I am also looking at the Scout but am a little worried about the 125mm travel in the back. Would like to hear a ride report on that as well.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I ordered a patrol back in September but when I heard there was a demo day in north Vancouver a few weeks ago I went to test one.

I sold my dh bike this summer as I wasn't riding it as much as I used to (broken shock didn't help) and have been riding my stumpjumper evo with a pike most of the time. The bike is very capable but the rear shock (rp2) gets overwhelmed. After selling the dh I realised if I'm only going to have one bike it should be one of the new breed of all mountain bikes - competent at going uphill but with the feeling of a downhill bike when descending.

And that's exactly what the patrol does, though the climbing performance was better than I expected. Better than my stumpjumper with good traction where normally i expected to slip and spin out. When it came to pointing it downhill, it became apparent the bike wanted to go fast. With a slack head angle and long wheelbase it needed a bit of muscling in tighter places but when you have room to let it go it's like riding a downhill bike. It encouraged me to get off the brakes and jump off roots, dive over rocks into corners, and never felt overwhelmed.

I would have liked to spend more time on it but it ticked the boxes I wanted it to. The 150mm reverb was another nice feature for those of us with long legs. Plus the x1 drivetrain was good to try and made climbing a little easier over my 1x10 on the stumpy.

I'm waiting for news of my order, as i believe I'm on the first line of production. Hopefully I will have it in the next month


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
Hi Guys!

Ordered the frame on september too and i´m still waiting.

Attending the geo chart of the bike and the Fsr Optimized suspension systems, it seems we are in front of a great bike or at least, one of the best enduro bikes outhere but I think this kind of bike it´s not for everyone, in the way that these geometries are designed to ride fast, aggresive, loose and keeping a good pace during the trail.

Examples like Nomad 3, giant reign 2014 or this bike with practicall similar geos, it want to be clear that this bikes are for racing essentially.. for example, in my case i was the owner of the banshee rune new batch and in some determined trails if you gou bit slow.. you could noticed that the bike become slow itself due the wheelbase, the head angle within another details.

So.. I hope to have the patrol next after 3 f*cking months and put here more details and riding impressions.

I´m 1,87cm / 210lbs and I got the Large size ( it´s big... 1210mm of wheelbase)
 
#20 ·
Let me a little more time to test it properly ;) in the meanwhile... I will test it the bike with a coil spring....

View attachment 950582
Hey Adriano,

how does it ride with a coil shock compared to the monarch?
I have a patrol upcoming and i'm going to mount an db coil anyway but i'm wondering what your thoughts are about that.
That spring rate do you use? I weight about ~78kg ready to ride and i think i'll give 350lbs a try.

Cheers from Germany...
(we have been unlucky with shipments, i ordered in september and i might have to wait until end of march)
 
#36 ·
I'm about 200 lbs with kit, riding an XL. I had a pike and debonair on my previous bike so setting things up on my Patrol seemed pretty straight-forward, though the leverage ratio on the Patrol means that I'm using a very different air pressure in the Debonair on the Patrol than the last bike... But for what it's worth, here are the settings that I'm using:

Monarch Plus Debonair: 195 PSI for 35% seated sag. High speed rebound has 19 clicks. From full in (slow) find first detente then turn 9 clicks out.

RS Pike Solo Air 160: 70 psi. HSR is at 9 clicks out from full slow, and Low Speed Rebound is is at 3 clicks from full FAST. Note that i burped the Pike as it seemed to have air in the legs (same happened on my last Pike when it was brand new).

Your experiences may be different and your riding style might be very very different, so do your homework and test carefully to find your happy setup (and the shock/fork seem to vary unit-to-unit as well).

Tire Wheel Mountainous landforms Bicycle wheel Bicycle wheel rim


(pic on Xanadu)
 
#23 ·
I went for a burn today on my Patrol. Definitely a nice turning, confidence inspiring bike. It actually climbs decent, which surprises me. Some pedal strikes but nothing major. Jumping this bike is crazy easy. Its so flickable.

Oh yah all my tech climbing was done with shock open.

I will be doing some techy **** climbs tomorrow which are really tough to do on my Tallboy.
 
#27 ·
Finally had a solid ride on mine, and I love it.

Didn't do too much climbing, but from what I did do I am impressed. And its such a fun handling bike. It corners much better than what I'm used to, and is a really easy bike to jump and pop off of things. It feels like it wants you to throw it around

Bicycle tire Tire Bicycle wheel Wheel Bicycle frame
 
#28 ·
Finished my techy **** climbs with no problems. No pedal strikes(which surprised me) and just cruised up all the roots and slab. Today was a dry day though. Wet conditions could be a different story.
Nice to ride a bike where the front tire is out in front like some ginsu knife edge the just grabs onto everything.

Put 1" gorilla tape around the rims and a stans valve in and pop pop =tubeless. The bike weighs 30lbs with 520 pedals.
 
#30 ·
I am thinking of doing something similar - but different.

What do you think about a Patrol built with a 180mm 36 coil (26"!) and 26" wheels? I have all the parts here for such a built, but I am not sure how it would ride. I think the longer fork should compensate for the smaller wheels, am I right?

That Patrol with full coil looks really gorgeous!
 
#32 ·
I am thinking of doing something similar - but different.

What do you think about a Patrol built with a 180mm 36 coil (26"!) and 26" wheels? I have all the parts here for such a built, but I am not sure how it would ride. I think the longer fork should compensate for the smaller wheels, am I right?

That Patrol with full coil looks really gorgeous!
Why wouldn't you just buy the Supressor?
 
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